Federal nomination battles always produce plenty of bubbling
rhetoric, but an upcoming election has upped the ante, with
MP-wannabes pulling out all the stops to get a comfy seat in
Parliament.

Saturday’s Liberal party nomination battle for the riding
of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek saw party stalwart Sheila Copps
lose to Transport Minister Tony Valeri, a favourite of Prime
Minister Paul Martin. But allegations of election impropriety
made by the Copps campaign may get the RCMP and federal government
involved.

Another example was Tuesday’s close vote in Newmarket-Aurora,
where Belinda Stronach — who is running for the leadership
of the Conservative Party of Canada — fought off an intense
campaign launched by Lois Brown to win the Conservative nomination.
Stronach’s organizers have said Brown was able to mount
a strong opposition since she had the endorsement and possible
assistance of leadership opponent Stephen Harper.

“In general, things are changing in the character of
nomination battles,” said Paul Nesbitt-Larking, a professor
of political science at Huron University College. “Parties
are decreasingly places where you have a kind of continuing
loyalty to political principles or ideals.”

Calling this new trend the “marketization of politics,” he
said elections are being won on the basis of which candidate
has the strongest campaign team. “[It is] the capacity
of a machine to basically diminish and overcome the other machine.”

University of Toronto professor Nelson Wiseman said Martin’s
rumoured personal involvement in the nomination battles has
been inconsistent. “He’s picking and choosing how
he applies his principles; it’s discretionary,” he
said of Martin’s targeted election restrictions, which
preclude unfavourable candidates from running. “He’s
imposed his own rules.”

“It’s rougher right now because we have an election,
though I don’t believe it’s imminent,” he
added.

Politics is indeed a disorganized and messy “blood sport,” said
Jacquetta Newman, a political science professor at King’s
College, adding Martin’s treatment of Copps is no different. “It
seems that the Liberal establishment turned against her,” Newman
said. “They want something new.”